Thursday, June 30, 2016

Wave that beautiful
flag! May we stand strong and prevail
over those who would destroy us. And most
importantly, let us return to the rule of law and free enterprise that made us
the greatest country in the world.

Monday, June 27, 2016

A dear friend of ours
is an Australian and I thought that along with the bird, he would especially enjoy
this image of a kangaroo.It's done in
the aboriginal dot-painting style – I wish someone would design more stamps in
this charming and distinctive form . . .

I picked out some of
the details with a white pencil, which helped the animals to stand out against
the busy background. Fussy cutting was
easy, as most of the edges are only slightly curved. All in all, I was happy with this layout and
made five of them for some of the nicest gentlemen in our lives!

Monday, June 20, 2016

. . . of course, Kraft with just about
anything is hard to beat, in my opinion!

Mixing text, a music
score, and butterflies is something I never would have thought to do when I
first started stamping 16 years ago. But
I came across a blogger last week who had done just that, and it looked so good
that I wanted to give it a try.

Thursday, June 16, 2016

My dear friend and
stamping buddy Carol recently gifted me with a booklet on Asian embellishments
and accents for cards.Among its many
wonderful ideas, I found a simple Mizuhiki knot I thought would be fun to try .
. .

Once you get the knot
fashioned from a single cord, the rest is easy:you just thread succeeding cords right next to the previous one.I used four cords on this one which made the
knot just wide enough to handle the 1/8" red liner tape I used on the back
to stabilize the knot and fasten it to the card front.

As for the corrugated
strip, I wondered what would happen if I ran it through my die cutting
machine. Voila! Lots of texture remains, but with way less
bulk.

Monday, June 13, 2016

The need for a guy
card recently arose and I quite naturally gravitated towards black ink paired
with Kraft and cream cardstocks.This
color combo isn't exactly written in stone for guys, but it does make for a
nice place to begin . . .

This is one of those
layouts that somehow grew – just like the fictional Topsy. A little something here, a pop of something
there, and oh! How about a little piece
of this over on the side? And then I
decided I was done. Well, except for the
postoids. And then the striped strip. And then the black glitter , , , and then . .
.

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Here's another
example of a bright idea that looked great in my head, but the reality came out
vastly different . . .

My plan was to stamp
an all-over image in VersaMark and then randomly overstamp it with my favorite
splotchy image inked with a few bright colors.
I'd forgotten that die inks will never reproduce well over colored
cardstock. So my next attempts will be
done on white or cream cardstock. Stay
tuned . . .

Monday, June 6, 2016

Our exceedingly dear
family friend Susi has made the difficult decision to move from her heart's
delight adopted state of Georgia back to her home state of California.It was a tough decision, but strong family
ties have drawn her homeward and I thought her return warranted some cheerful
greetings . . .

The die for this
little house with its cute windows and mansard roof includes almost everything
needed. I used my tiniest hole punch to
make a doorknob and then decided that adding a bit of white Victorian
gingerbread trim would not be amiss. In
my stash, I found a "waste" strip left over from a package of white
trims, and its narrow width was perfect for this layout.

Thursday, June 2, 2016

It's been awhile
since I've done an Asian theme, so I had an especially good time on this layout
. . .

This card is going
to Ellen Tessler of Tessler Crafts, who suffered a dual tragedy late last year
when she had a massive aneurysm, followed 12 days later by the death of her
husband. She is being well cared for by
her loving family, is making wonderful progress, and expects to be back on the stamp show
circuit as soon as possible.

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About Me

In 2000, I picked up a magazine with a funny name: RubberStampMadness. "What on earth is this?" I wondered, and began thumbing through it. By page 5, I had heart palpitations, was seriously hooked a few pages later, and have been happily addicted ever since. I am a retired TWA flight attendant and have stayed busy with several pursuits, but am happiest when I'm stamping. As a resident in the wilds of North NJ, we've got plenty of bears to deal with, but next to no stamping stores to play in. Hopefully, someone will recognize an opportunity and spring to our rescue. Meanwhile, I plan to stay connected to the stamping world at large via my blog. Welcome to my world - please do come in!
~~Full Disclosure:
Currently, I have no commercial interests and am receiving zip in the way of payments, products, services, fame or fortune from any of the companies who manufacture the products I recommend. When I am enthusiastic about a tool or other stamping-related product, I love passing along my happy experiences with it to my readers. However, blogging can open up new opportunities: should I become interested in participating remuneratively, you will find out about it here first.